HOUSTON — Brian Hoyer was terrible in his Houston Texans debut and benched for Ryan Mallett in the fourth quarter in a loss to Kansas City on Sunday.

Mallett played considerably better, but the Chiefs were protecting a lead on their way to a 27-20 victory over the Texans at NRG Stadium.

Now the question is whether Hoyer will keep his job or Mallett will get a chance this weekend against Carolina.

Texans coach Bill O’Brien said he knows who will start, but wouldn’t share it with the media on Monday and doesn’t plan to reveal his plan before Sunday’s game.

“I’m not going to make a big quarterback announcement today,” O’Brien said. “You’ll have to wait until the first offensive play of the Carolina game to see who the quarterback will be.”

It might be a ploy to keep the Panthers guessing, and it’s possible that O’Brien is looking for some sort of edge in the Texans’ first road trip.

Mallett went out of his way to say the right things after the game against the Chiefs, telling the media that “all I care about is winning” and that he prepares each week as if he’s going to be starting the game.

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Mallett said.

Hoyer signed in the offseason and beat out Mallett in training camp for the job. Many in the news media questioned the decision, based perhaps largely on Mallett’s potential, but Hoyer clearly played better among the two quarterbacks in preseason play.

In Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, however, wo turnovers by Hoyer put the Texans in a big hole early in the game. The Chiefs led 27-9 before the Texans came back to score 11 points with Mallett at the controls.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” Hoyer said after the game. “I’m disappointed. Embarrassed. I feel like I let down (my teammates) ... No one feels worse about that than I do.”

Hoyer, who started 13 games for Cleveland last season, was intercepted on his first play as a Texan and fumbled on a sack later in the first half as the Chiefs rushed out to a 27-9 lead by halftime.

Hoyer didn’t have a turnover after the break, but was unable to move the offense. And after a series in the fourth quarter where Hoyer was penalized for intentional grounding, O’Brien brought in Mallett with about six minutes remaining.

Mallett responded by throwing a touchdown pass and 2-point conversion on his first drive and leading the Texans on a possession that ended with a field goal after that.

O’Brien was quick to point out that Hoyer isn’t the only player that needs to do better for Houston to be successful.

“It’s a team loss, no doubt about it,” O’Brien said. “The coaching has to be better ... we’ve got to figure out how to get these guys to be in better position to make plays. We’ve got to catch the ball, we’ve got to block better, we’ve got to tackle better on special teams. We’ve got to kick the ball better. We’ve got to make more plays on the ball on defense. It’s a team loss. It’s never, ever, ever one guy’s fault.”

Though it’s a blow for a quarterback to be benched mid-game, O’Brien said he wasn’t concerned about the confidence of either of his quarterbacks in the wake of what happened on Sunday. He refused to evaluate the performance of either quarterback and deflected questions about them by saying any decision on personnel is done in the best interest of the team.

“It’s a big-picture decision,” he said. “It’s not just one play or this or that. It’s what we think is the best thing that we need to do to help us beat Carolina. We’ve got two quarterbacks that we think are good players. Both of them have to play better.”

Quarterback woes are nothing new in Houston, where the Texans have long been foiled by problems at the position. They used four quarterbacks last year after Ryan Fitzpatrick was benched early and they also dealt with several quarterback injuries. Then there was 2013, when Matt Schaub was plagued by interceptions returned for touchdowns before being benched for Case Keenum.

But Keenum, the former University of Houston star, couldn’t get the Texans on track and they dropped to an NFL-worst 2-14.

Hoyer and Mallett weren’t available to reporters on Monday, but several players on offense said the uncertainty at quarterback isn’t a distraction for the team.

“I get paid to play receiver and that’s all I can worry about,” Nate Washington said. “O’Brien has been around for quite some time, so he’s going to have an understanding of what must be done, and that’s all we can worry about. I don’t make those decisions. I’m not really worried about those decisions.”